Who we are

Madison Bikes Board of Directors

Harald Kliems

Growing up in a small town in Germany and later going to university in Berlin, Harald never thought of himself as a cyclist—he just used his bike to get places. After coming to the US for grad school, using a bike somehow required lots of things, among them identifying as "a cyclist." And so he did. Trained as a psychologist and sociologists of science and technology, Harald now works as a researcher in pediatrics at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health. Not having a car in his household, he rides his bike all around town, and he wants to make Madison a place where people of all ages and all abilities can do so too.​ Harald also somewhat regularly blogs at Ride or Pie!? and serves as the president of Madison Bikes since 2019.

Heather Pape

Heather grew up in Pittsburgh, PA and moved to Madison in May of 2016. She chose to move to Madison with her husband because of the flatness and bikeability. Heather is a big fan of multi modal transportation and using the bus system to extend her biking miles. She works as a Business Systems Analyst at Conney Safety and is the Madison Bikes volunteer coordinator. Since 2019, Heather is the vice-president of Madison Bikes.

Kate Konkle

Kate moved to Eau Claire, Wisconsin in 2008 (by way of Pennsylvania and Alabama) and rekindled her love for riding on the trails and roads of the Chippewa Valley. Two years later she moved to Madison for a position at the UW Population Health Institute and her love for riding (commuting, recreational road riding, mountain biking and racing cyclocross) grew as she made more friends in the Madison cycling community. In her day job, she helps communities create positive change, including policy changes to increase active transportation, to improve health, and she is happy to be part of similar work right here in Madison. Kate is holding the office of secretary for Madison Bikes.

Mark Shahan

Mark first became involved in Madison bicycling through the UW Hoofers Outing Club starting in 1983 while attending graduate school in biochemistry. After graduating, he gravitated towards bicycle advocacy and cofounded the Bicycle Transportation Alliance of Dane County (BTA) in 1993. One of the early efforts of BTA was helping fundraise for the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin (now the Wisconsin Bike Fed) as the Bike Fed transitioned into a truly statewide advocacy organization. Mark has served on numerous City of Madison committees and commissions, including 12 years on the Pedestrian, Bicycle, and Motor Vehicle Commission (7 years as chairperson) and the Committee for the Design of the Southwest Commuter Bike and Pedestrian Path. He continues to serve on the Long Range Transportation Planning Committee. Mark’s advocacy for bicycle friendly growth, transportation facilities, and policies is an outgrowth of being a year-round bicycle commuter for over two decades. Mark takes care of the finances of Madison Bikes as its treasurer.

Pepe Barros

Pepe grew up in a big city far south of Madison. Santiago, Chile watched him grow and experiment with all kind of adventure sports to end up attracted by the steep mountains and the Downhill Mountain Bike competitions he used to attend with his friends. While being a strong bike commuter in the wild streets of Latin America he traded adrenaline for advocacy and studies. While becoming an industrial engineer he traveled all throughout Chile helping to grow environmental awareness by cycling. He spent the last 5 years developing social-emotional skills in several public schools in different regions of Chile and in 2016 he happily got married in Milwaukee and worked the warm season as a Mobile Bike Repair Coordinator for Wisconsin Bike Fed. In October of 2017, Pepe, his wife and their fat cat moved to Madison and they all hope to be helpful to the city and its growing bicycle community by creating and supporting spaces where everyone can feel safe, confident and gather as a big family, no matter your origins or beliefs.

Baltazar De Anda Santana

Baltazar is an immigrant who grew up in Mexico and came to the United States when he was 23 years old (He is now 41). Because of biking and a healthy life style, Baltazar lost 95 pounds and reversed a pre-diabetic diagnosis. Some years ago, when Baltazar's drivers license expired (and because of his immigration status he was not able to renew it) he started using biking as his main means of transportation. Baltazar is now able to get a drivers license (he became a Legal Permanent Resident in 2016) but he has chosen not to buy a car and continue using biking as a main means of transportation. In the short time that Baltazar has been biking in Madison, he has found that unfortunately there is a bike racial disparity and bike inequity in the city of Madison. Baltazar does not want to be one of the few Latinos who bike. His goal is to bring more people from the Latino/African American/Hmong communities into biking. As more people bike, there is going to be a yet higher need for better biking infrastructure in Madison. Madison is currently a great place for biking. Unfortunately it is only a great place to bike for just few members of the community. Baltazar believes this can change.

Jake Foley

Jake Foley moved to Madison with his family in 2015, and lives on the North side with his wife, daughter and soon to be new baby. Relocating to Madison to design bikes for Trek Bicycle, Jake has enjoyed planting roots in the community. Using his background in art and design Jake is thrilled to be involved with Madison Bike, where he hopes to contribute in efforts to improve the infrastructure of our great city. Having traveled all over the world for Trek, Jake is inspired and excited to bring some influences to Madison to help make it the number one cycling city in the world. In his spare time he enjoys commuting by bike, trail running, playing basketball, racing cyclocross, mountain biking, paddle boarding, and water skiing.

Grant Foster

GGrant worked in healthcare for many years and is convinced that active transportation is the best medicine. He served as a member of Madison's Pedestrian Bicycle Motor Vehicle Commission and Long Range Transportation Planning Committee and currently represents District 15 on Madison's Common Council. Grant was president of Madison Bikes from 2015-18.

Liz Jesse

Liz grew up in Madison and after college moved to the Washington D.C. suburbs for several years, followed by a ten year stint in Sheboygan, WI. However, it was only after moving home to Madison in 2015 that she truly began to appreciate the city’s vibrant bicycling culture. She is now a year-round bicycle commuter (eight miles round trip), but also enjoys recreational road riding and bicycle camping/touring during the warmer months. Liz works as a science outreach specialist/educator at the UW Biotechnology Center and is an active member of the UW-Madison Science Alliance, a science outreach advocacy group on campus. She lives on Madison’s near-west side with her husband, Ben, and their two adorable rescue dogs.

Elysha Jones

Elysha Jones grew up in St. Louis, MO. The bicycle infrastructure there was lacking, especially if you wanted to bicycle with children, so her and her family looked for a more bike friendly city. Madison fit the bill beautifully and they have called it home now for the last 7 years. Elysha is a stay at home mom who does most of her errands by bike, that includes picking her two daughters, aged 5 and 9 up from school along with another neighbor girl who hitches a ride everyday in Elysha's bakfiet. She is a year round cyclist and strives to be as "car lite" as she can be.

Steph Shelton

Steph was born and raised in Racine, WI. After living in other states and serving in the Peace Corps, she returned to Wisconsin and has been living in Madison for five years. As a year-round bike commuter and a dedicated cyclocross biker, Steph believes that safe biking can and should be accessible for all Madison residents. As such, she hopes to make an impact on making year-round biking a choice for all. Steph currently holds an MS degree in Population Health and works as a Cancer Data Specialist at the UW Carbone Cancer Center.

Peter Taglia

Peter began to see the potential for bicycles as a healthy and sustainable form of transportation while attending college in Missoula Montana. After moving to Madison in the late 1990s to attend graduate school and start a family, Peter began to advocate for bicycles as a student representative to the UW Madison Transportation Committee. He continued to volunteer for bicycle infrastructure and policies while towing his two children in a beloved bike trailer while his career as an environmental geologist exposed him to details of the energy and water impacts of various sectors of the economy.

Peter's work experience includes environmental investigations, remediation, and permitting at an engineering firm (2001 - 2005), environmental policy, research and advocacy as the staff scientist for Clean Wisconsin (2005 - 2011) and continued environmental work as an independent consultant for clients in the public, private and non-profit sectors. He has served as a board member for the Wisconsin Public Utility Institute at UW Madison and the Bayview Foundation, a low-income housing provider in his neighborhood, and on local, state and regional commissions and task forces. Peter lives in downtown Madison, in a house over 100 years old where he also hosts guests as a licensed short term rooming house.

Robbie Webber

Robbie has been biking for transportation since her parents let her cross the street alone. Both professionally and personally, she is a fierce advocate for improving transportation options, including walking and biking. Her advocacy journey started as one of the first employees for the Wisconsin Bike Fed and continued as a Madison alder for six years. As a League Cycling Instructor, Robbie has taught everything from how to bike to work in winter to how to keep your cool in the heat of rush hour traffic.

Jim Wilson

Jim has lived and bicycled in the Madison area his whole life. Finding his bicycle to be a more reliable, more affordable, and healthier form of transportation, he ditched the car lifestyle in late 2013 and has been car-free since. Around the same time, he began actively learning about the issues surrounding bike advocacy in order to help make Madison a place where anybody can bike anywhere conveniently and comfortably year-round. Jim first learned of Madison Bikes at the 2017 Brazen Dropouts Bike Swap, and became active with the Advocacy Committee a few months later. Having graduated from the UW-Madison’s College of Engineering in December 2018, he hopes to put his knowledge to work in a bicycle-related field and help promote biking everywhere, but most importantly in his home city of Madison.

Former board members

Becky Jollay (2017-18)

Michael Lemberger (2016-18)

Michael is a lifelong Dane County resident and has been commuting year-round by bicycle in Madison since 1989. He is also an avid all-conditions rider, writing occasionally about those adventures on his blog.